THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) assured that registered voters who do not have biometrics will still be allowed to vote in the May 2010 national and local elections.

"Registered voters who haven't had their biometrics captured need not panic. They can still vote in 2010," said Comelec spokesman James Jimenez.

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Jimenez issued the statement after reports that voters who failed to undergo biometrics procedures during the registration will not be allowed to vote next year.

The Comelec official noted that voters can still vote even without biometrics as long as their name is still included in the voters list.

Meanwhile, Comelec launched on Wednesday another website, www.ehope2010.ph, which would answer the public queries on the automation elections among others.

E-hope2010 which stands for electronic, honest, orderly, peaceful, elections for 2010 is an answer website more than anything else.

"A lot of criticisms have come our way on the project, questions, concerns, clarifications things like that and we've been answering them as best we can. But people have been hard pressed to find one place where they can go to just really get all the answers that they need," he said.

The idea of coming up with the website originated from the proposal of Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban to have such that would cater to the questions of the voting public on the new method of voting come May 2010.

Jimenez hopes that through the website they'll be able to answer all queries from the people.

"We will have an administrator who will maintain this site. It will not be exactly 24/7 but a lot of our administrators keep very late hours so you can expect answers," Jimenez said.

The poll official also stressed that ehope2010 is just a precursor website since they will still launch a full information website next month.

It will contain more features such as voter education tools, videos and other clips that will be useful to everyone. (FP/Sunnex)